TS Eliot Prize Shortlist 2012

Written by Rob Mackenzie at November 1, 2012 18:36

The shortlist for this year’s TS Eliot Award has recently been announced. All of us at Magma are delighted to see that our Magma Competition judge, Gillian Clarke, has been shortlisted for her collection, Ice (Carcenet).

“In Ice Gillian Clarke turns to the real winters of 2009 and 2010. In their extremity they redefined all the seasons for her. Nature asserted itself and renewed the environment for the imagination… She lives with the planet, its seasons and creatures, in a joyful, anxious communion.”

We’d like to congratulate Gillian and to extend our best wishes to all the shortlisted authors.

The four Poetry Book Society Choices, along with six other collections selected by judges Carol Ann Duffy, Michael Longley and David Morley, make up the complete shortlist, which is as follows:

4 Responses to “TS Eliot Prize Shortlist 2012”

The only poet I’ve read of that lot is Simon Armitage and frankly I did not think much of him he doesn’t write poetry only a kind of treatise. As for the others let the judges do their judging. But of course it’s all a put up job because only the few chosen are chosen by the so called elite in poetry and frankly I’m somewhat suspicious of that lot who only choose from amongst their friends.

Not sure I’d include the Armitage translation, no matter how good. The Sharon Olds book is excellent as is the Julia Copus – in particular the poems on IVF which are outstanding – personally I would have de – collected them from the others, but then that would have been two pamphlets I suppose – all a bit arbitrary.

You didn’t get many replies to to this question, and as I’ve often suspected many so called poetry lovers read little poetry, or can it be that modern poetry is so unreadable that it is no longer popular. Or is it that ‘pop’ has taken over and so disgusted people with words that people no longer wish to read poetry?